After typhoon Jebi ran its course (it wasn’t bad where we were, just stormy) we headed out of Sounkyo towards Onneyu. Whatever leftover wind from Jebi there was, or maybe it was just a normal strong wind, who knows, worked in our favour as we zoomed downhill with a tailwind, and we arrived in Onneyu in no time. There, we did some sight-seeing, set up camp in a free (!) camping, had a good long…

Lazy day to Sounkyo and a sneaky camp We wake up early in Toma, but take our time and have a relaxed breakfast in the konbini across the road, leeching their internet while sipping our coffee. Today will be a short day, 55km or so, with a very gentle climb along the river to Sounkyo where we will have our first rest day. So, today there is no hurry. As we browse the morning news…

(As you might have noticed, I’m a little bit behind with posting. Right now we are in central Hokkaido, safely tucked away in a hotel. Typhoon Jebi is passing us tonight quite far to the west, but is still causing strong winds and overall nasty weather, but nothing like the total chaos it is causing in other parts of the country. Still, we don’t quite trust our tent enough so better to be in an…

We wake up early at the michi-no-eki, and it is dry. It’s actually pretty scenic, tucked away in the corner of our parking lot. On the side of the onsen is a huge water wheel/mill (waterrad, in Dutch, and our crappy connection won’t let me look up the correct translation right now). It feels like we’re taking forever packing the tent and all our things. I guess we still have to settle into the routine…

Rain We wake up with a steady trickle of rain on the tent. Ugh. We try to wait it out for a bit, but one look outside tells us that it probably won’t stop raining anytime soon. At least it’s a steady drizzle and not a full-on downpour, but it will stay with us the entire day as we slowly cycle the 40km or so to the city. I pre-loaded this route to my gps…

Taking a bike, let alone two, to the airport and in an airplane is always hectic. We arrived there by train, and then had to disassemble our bikes, fit them in the boxes picked up at the airport (mine barely fit, I had to cut a hole out of the topside to let my handlebar poke through) and then navigate pretty much the whole length of Schiphol with two huge boxes on a cart. Fun…

Our house is littered with things that either need to be packed in our panniers or packed into boxes for storage. Clothes that need sorting, electronics that need sorting. A harddisk full of e-books that needs sorting. And most of all, a racing mind that needs sorting and chill the fuck down, but the excitement about this trip combined with the stress of arranging everything before departure make that hard. I don’t want to complain…

The other day I downloaded one of these guided meditation apps on my phone, desperately in need of some peace and quiet after another night where my brain just wouldn’t shut up about money or the lack thereof, the future, me being a sad sack for living with my boyfriend’s parents, how I should really go for a run tomorrow, etcetera etcetera. Because we all have those nights, right? Right, so I downloaded the app. It carefully let…

For many travellers the adventure starts with a map. Spread out on the floor we dream over destinations with names we can’t pronounce. We follow rivers or mountainranges with our fingers, place little marks on places we want to visit. We have maps with pins that proudly display the places we’ve visited. I am a map geek. That’s why it’s weird that I only now made a map with an overview of our trip. I don’t…

Birthdays are reflective moments. So when I turned 28, last June, I sat down and made a list of things I want to accomplish in the next year, before my 29th birthday. Which is almost 30, after all. Damn. I’m not going to share all details on the list because it’s not all your business, but among things like “Find another job” and “Read at least 25 books” there was also “Write & publish one…